State-owned Bank of Baroda today said it has consolidated all its operational activities at a shared service center (SSC), which employs over 2,000 people, at Gujarat's GIFT City.
Operational services such as retail loan processing, deposit account opening, forex transactions, call center, among others have been migrated to the SSC.
"The SSC employs more than 2,000 staff, making Bank of Baroda one of the largest employers in the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar region," the lender said in a statement.
The bank said it has taken 20,000 sq, ft of office space in GIFT City, making it the first India bank to actually move a lots operations to the smart city. Some other banks have already opened branches and representative offices there.
The bank has been on a journey of rapid transformation in its services and processes over the last two years.
Part of the transformation in processes was the idea to move the operations at the branch level to a centralised facility. This frees space at the branches ..

De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, has said the business in the country will continue to grow this year despite dampened sentiments following Nirav Modi-led PNB fraud.
"There has been this banking scandal, that is clearly a fraud, and had certainly dampened sentiments little bit.... But having said that, I think consumer demand in India, as we have Forevermark brand, is doing very well.
"It's been an unfortunate incident but the demand in India this year would be reversed, would be good and the business in India will continue to grow in 2018," De Beers Group CEO Bruce Cleaver told PTI here.
Diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are alleged to have perpetrated the country's biggest banking sector scam of Rs 13,000 crore at Punjab National Bank, mainly by way of issuance of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs).
The Centre has also intervened in the bankruptcy proceedings of Nirav Modi firms in the US to protect the interests of PNB.
Meanwhile, Cleaver .

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said that his government cancelled the Rajgurunagar-Khed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as injustice was done to the farmers of the area.
Fadnavis had recently cancelled the SEZ and had also waived off the stamp duty on the transfer of land to project-affected people of four villages, Nimgaon, Kanersar, Dawadi and Kendur.
Fadanvis was speaking to a farmers' delegation, led by Hatkanangle Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, which met him to thank him for this decision.
"The government has always given priority to the interests of farmers. When acquiring land, maximum compensation should be given. Efforts have been made to see that the rehabilitation of projected affected people is done well," Fadnavis said.
Shetti hailed the Maharashtra CM's decision as positive and pro-farmer.
In 2007, 1,250 hectares of land was acquired for the SEZ from the four villages in 2007.
According to the contract, 15 per cent of this land was to be ...

Hotel or restaurant services provided to SEZ developers or units will not be treated as 'zero-rated' supplies and hence will be taxable under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has said.
In an application filed before the Karnataka bench of the AAR, the applicant had sought to clarify whether hotel accommodation and restaurant services provided by them, within the premises of the hotel, to the employees and guests of SEZ units be treated as supply of goods and services.
"The hotel accommodation and restaurant services being provided by the applicant, within the premises of the hotel, to the employees and guests of SEZ units, cannot be treated as supply of goods and services to SEZ units in Karnataka and hence they are the intra-state supply and are taxable accordingly," the AAR order said.
In the earlier service tax regime, the law provided that only services which are labelled as "authorised operation" will be treated as zero-rated supply .

Drug firm Zydus Cadila today said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market Carbidopa tablets, used to treat symptoms of Parkinson-disease, in the American market.
The company has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market the product, Zydus Cadila said in a statement.
The product is used in a combination (levodopa/carbidopa) to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease or Parkinson-like symptoms such as shakiness, stiffness, and difficulty in moving.
The drug would be manufactured at the group's manufacturing facility at SEZ, Ahmedabad.
Zydus group now has more than 190 approvals and has so far filed over 320 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) with the USFDA.

Zydus Cadila has received final approval from the US health regulator to market Carbidopa tablets, used for treating symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Parkinson's symptoms include shakiness, stiffness and difficulty in moving.
Zydus Cadila has received the final approval from the USFDA to market Carbidopa tablets (25 mg), the company said in a BSE filing.
The approved product will be manufactured at the group's manufacturing facility at SEZ, Ahmedabad.
The Zydus group has more than 190 approvals and so far filed over 320 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) since it started filings in 2003-04.
Shares of Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the group, were up 0.31 per cent at Rs 401.75 per scrip on BSE today.

Moody's Investors Service today said financial results reported by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) for the year ending March 2018 were within its expectations.
"Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd's (APSEZ) (Baa3 stable) results for full year ending March 2018 (FY2018) are within Moody's expectations," the global rating agency said in a statement.
The port developer and terminal operator's consolidated revenue from operations on year-on-year basis in FY'18 was up by 34 per cent at Rs 11,323 crore.
"FY2018 performance for APSEZ was driven by seven per cent year on year (YoY) growth in cargo volumes and a strong 5.4x growth in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) income compared to FY2017," Abhishek Tyagi, a Moody's vice-president and senior analyst said.
APSEZ's coal cargo volumes in 2017-18 were negatively impacted by lower utilisation rate of Adani Power's 4.6 GW Mundra power project.
"The strong growth in SEZ income in FY2018 was driven by recognising of revenues ...

Mahindra World City (MWC) Jaipur today said it has received multi-product notification for its Special Economic Zones, which will make it one of India's most preferred business destinations.
The existing sectoral SEZs in MWC Jaipur Engineering & Related Industries, IT/ITeS, Handicrafts, and Gems & Jewellery have been merged and will operate as one multi-product SEZ, MWC Jaipur said in a statement said.
The MWC Jaipur is a joint venture between Mahindra Lifespace Developers (MLDL) and Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO).
Multi-product notification for its Special Economic Zone provides significant impetus to the MWC Jaipur as one of India's most preferred business destinations - which is already home to more than 80 leading global and domestic companies across its industrial zone, it added.
Established in 2006, the MWC Jaipur embodies the philosophy of 'Livelihood, Living and Life', and has created employment for more than 35,000 persons

The Odisha government has scrapped the Rs 636-crore gems, jewellery, lifestyle and luxury goods park which was to be set up by Gitanjali Infratech Ltd, an official said today.
The development comes in the wake of the multi-crore PNB scam and there is no one from the company, owned by Mehul Choksi-run Gitanjali Group, with whom the state government can interact, he said.
Diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi have been accused of perpetrating the country's biggest banking sector scam of around Rs 13,000 crore at Punjab National Bank.
The state government in November last year accorded final approval to the detailed project reports of Gitanjali Infratech Ltd for setting up the park at Ramdaspur in Cuttack district, he said.
A piece of land which had earlier been allotted to the Gitanjali Gems, for setting up a jewellery manufacturing unit also stands cancelled, he said.
"The company seems to be in trouble and there is no one with whom we can speak to. Under the ...

The Maharashtra government today unveiled the much-awaited Development Plan (DP) 2034 for Mumbai, paving the way for the space-starved city to have more land available to build homes and commercial spaces.
Infusion of new developable land and increasing the FSI (Floor Space Index) in the island city up to 3 for residential properties are the major takeaways of the revised development plan, which will be the blueprint for the city's land use over the next 16 years.
FSI is the ratio of the total built-up area to the total area of a plot. It is basically a tool that defines the extent of construction permissible on a plot.
In the new DP, the FSI for commercial properties is raised up to 5 in the island city from earlier 1.33.
For suburbs, new FSI will be up to 2.5 and 5 for residential and commercial properties, respectively. The existing FSI for the two categories is 2 and 2.5, respectively.
Unveiling the document, Maharashtra Urban Development department Principal ...

India is fast emerging as a potential destination for the cruise tourism and some new port developers in that country are in talks with international cruise management consultants for setting up terminals that can handle an estimated 200,000 passengers per year, a senior industry official has said.
Pointing to the growing middle class with strong propensity to travel, Christopher Hayman, chairman of Seatrade, which regularly organises marine industry events, said "India is a huge untapped market."
"India is a potential destination and source market for cruise tourism. I know that the some of the (Indian) ports are already in conversation with one of the major cruise terminal consultants," ," he said yesterday after launching Seatrade's marine industry conference, Sea Asia Voice, to be held here in April 9-11, 2019.
"That (discussions with consultants) would be very productive," he added.
He also said that Indian government is also taking initiatives to promote cruise terminals, for ..